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The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act: Whose Conflicts Law? Whose Local Law? Barkanic V

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The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act: Whose Conflicts Law? Whose Local Law? Barkanic V Brooklyn Law Review Volume 58 Issue 2 Article 5 The eS cond Circuit Review - 1990-1991 Term 2-1-1992 CONFLICT OF LAWS: The orF eign Sovereign Immunities Act: Whose Conflicts Law? Whose Local Law? Barkanic v. General Administration of Civil Aviation of the People's Republic of China David E. Seidelson Follow this and additional works at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr Recommended Citation David E. Seidelson, CONFLICT OF LAWS: The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act: Whose Conflicts Law? Whose Local Law? Barkanic v. General Administration of Civil Aviation of the People's Republic of China, 58 Brook. L. Rev. 427 (1992). Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr/vol58/iss2/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at BrooklynWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Brooklyn Law Review by an authorized editor of BrooklynWorks. THE FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITIES ACT: WHOSE CONFLICTS LAW? WHOSE LOCAL LAW? BARKANIC v. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AVIATION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA* David E. Seidelson** INTRODUCTION Peter Barkanic, domiciled in the District of Columbia, and Donald Fox, domiciled in New Hampshire, both American busi- nessmen contemplating a trip to China, purchased tickets for a China Airlines flight from Nanjing to Beijing. The tickets were purchased from a travel agent in Washington, D.C., acting on behalf of Pan American World Airways ("Pan Am") under an arrangement between China Airlines and Pan Am whereby the former authorized the latter to issue tickets for passenger travel in China.1 Barkanic and Fox died when the Chinese plane crashed en route to Beijing. Personal representatives of their es- tates brought wrongful death actions against the General Ad- ministration of Civil Aviation of the People's Republic of China ("CAAC") in federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York, asserting subject matter jurisdiction under the For- eign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA").2 After the United * 923 F.2d 957 (2d Cir. 1991). ** Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law, George Washington University. I wish to ex- press my gratitude to David F. Hayes, Esq., counsel for the plaintiffs, and John K. Weir, Esq., counsel for the defendant, for their kindness and graciousness in provding me with information and documents relevant to the case. None of the assertions or conclusions set forth in the article should be imputed to either counsel. All are the responsibility of the author. I Barkanic v. General Administration of Civil Aviation of the People's Republic of China, 822 F.2d 11, 13 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 964 (1987). It was in this opinion that the Second Circuit concluded that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330, 1332(a)(4), 1391(b), 1441(a), 1602-1611 (1988) [hereinafter FSIAJ, gave the fed- eral district court subject matter jurisdiction. The arrangement between China Airlines and Pan Am was an important element in that conclusion. 2 Id. BROOKLYN LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58: 427 States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that such jurisdiction was appropriate,3 the defendant asserted that its lia- bility should be governed by Chinese municipal law that limits an airline's liability for the wrongful death of a non-citizen to $20,000.1 Neither the local law of the District of Columbia" nor 3 Barkanic, 822 F.2d at 13. 4 Barkanic v. General Admin. of Civil Aviation of the People's Republic of China, 923 F.2d 957, 958 (2d Cir. 1991). Defendant's expert witness testified to the Chinese law: Witness: The maximum amount is twenty thousand dollars U.S. dollars which was established according to the preference treatment and the Hague Conven- tion pertaining to foreigners, overseas Chinese and compatriots of Hong Kong. Q. What is the limitation of liability for Chinese nationals? A. The maximum compensation for Chinese residents is five thousand IB, Chinese dollars. Q. Where in China law are those limitations set forth? A. On December 25, 1982 and December 27, 1982 the State Council of China issued two orders to amend the 1951 regulations on this matter. Q. So is it your testimony that the limitations of liability in Chinese law are found in the regulations of 1951 as they were amended in 1982, is that correct? A. Yes, as amended in 1982. Hearing Transcript, Motion for Partial Summ. J., Nov. 24, 1987, at 25. Defendant's ex- pert witness testified that Chinese conflicts law would lead to the Chinese ceiling on recovery: Q. Considering the fact [sic] of this case, Mr. Ze, and applying the con- flict rule set forth in Article 146, what is your opinion as to what law would be applied in this case? A. Chinese laws. Id. at 47. Elaborating on the reason for having a higher ceiling for non-citizens than for citi- zens, defendant's expert testified: [T]aking into consideration the living expense and the special situation of compatriots of Hong Kong, overseas Chinese as [sic] foreigners, special princi- ples have been, will be, will be adopted in accordance with the Hague Convention. These people, referring to the overseas Chinese, foreigners and compatri- ots of Hong Kong, will be treated with special preference in accordance with the standards of the Hague Convention in which China is a member. The maximum compensation for them, we are referring to compatriots of Hong Kong, overseas Chinese and foreigners, the maximum compensation for them is twenty thousand U.S. dollars .... [With regard to domestic passen- gers,] the maximum total amount for all these funds will be limited to five thousand dollars. Chinese dollars. Id. at 65-66. The Witness: The present maximum compensation for compatriots of Hong Kong, for overseas Chinese or foreigners is twenty thousand U.S. dollars ... which is taken into consideration in the Hague Convention. Id. at 72. 1992] FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMfUNITIES ACT that of New Hampshire8 would have imposed any ceiling on recovery. This confronted the court with a choice-of-law problem. Which state's local law should be applied, that of China or that of the District of Columbia in the Barkanic action, that of China or that of New Hampshire in the Fox action? That choice-of-law problem, in turn, raised a preliminary issue. In resolving the choice-of-law problem, whose conflicts law should be applied, that of China, the place where the defendant's act or omission occurred, that of the federal court hearing the action, or that of New York, the forum state? The District Court... found that, as a result of an aircraft accident which occurred in 1982 in China, the government amended its regulations to increase compensation to foreigners involved in domestic accidents .... Citizens of China would be paid an amount equivalent to $1,500 U.S., while foreigners would be compensated to a maximum of $20,000 U.S. The Court found that the limitation was established "on the basis of favorable treatment and with reference to the limitation set forth in the Hague Protocol [to the Warsaw Convention] that China has acceded to." Appellee's Brief at 8, Barkanic, 923 F.2d 957 (2d Cir. 1991) (No. 562, 90-7641) (footnote omitted). The reader interested in contemporary Chinese law generally may wish to read Nicholas P. Hansen, The Codification of Chinese Tort Law, 5 UCLA PAcwiFc BAsiN L J. 172 (1986); Whitmore Gray et al, trans., GeneralPrinciples of Civil Lw of the People's Republic of China, 34 Ah. J. CoimAm. L. 715 (1986). According to the Second Circuit, "[plaintiffs did] not dispute CAACs interpretation of Chinese law." 923 F.2d at 958 n.1. 5 D.C. CODE ANN. § 16-2701 (1989). 6 N.H. REv. STAT. ANN. §§ 556:12, 13, 14 (1974). Section 13 imposes a ceiling of $50,000 "except in cases where the plaintiff's decedent has left either a widow, widower, child, father, mother, or any relative dependent on the plaintiffs decedent in which event there shall be no limitation." Id. at 556:13. Donald Fox, decedent, left a widow, one of the plaintiffs in the Barkanic action. Those relatives specifically named in section 13 need not be financially dependent on the decedent for the ceiling to be inapplicable. Merrill v. Great Bay Disposal Service, Inc., 484 A.2d 1101 (N.H. 1984). Although the New Hampshire statute is entitled a wrongful death statute, it "limits damages to the injuries suffered by the decedent and his or her estate .... Damages are not assessed based on the loss suffered by surviving relatives." Siciliano v. Capital City Shows, Inc., 475 A.2d 19, 24 (N.H. 1984) (citations omitted). In effect, then, the statute is more akin to a survival statute than to a wrongful death statute. See W. PAGE KEnToN Lr Ai, Pos- SER AND KETON ON THE LAW OF ToRnS §§ 125A, 126, 127, at 940.54 (5th ed. 1984). That being the case, a question arises as to why the applicability or inapplicability of the ceiling on recovery turns on the identity of the decedent's survivors. Perhaps the New Hampshire legislature is content to assume that those survivors specifically named or those survivors who are in fact dependent on the decedent are likely to share in the decedents estate and be beneficiaries of the action. N.H. Ray. STAT. ANN. § 556:14 (1974). BROOKLYN LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:427 I. WHOSE CONFLICTS LAW? A. The FSIA-FTCA Connection CAAC argued that the FSIA mandated Jthe application of Chinese conflicts law (which presumably would have led to the application of Chinese local law and the $20,000 ceiling).1 CAAC analogized the FSIA and the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA").8 Both contain similar language: If..
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